One summer day in 1980, Dave Stout was in Wilson's Hobby Shop talking to Harry about model railroading. He asked Harry if he could hang up a notice in the store to see if anybody would be interested in building a modular layout. Harry said he could but it wouldn't do any good. 

Dave received calls from Steve Vicars, Louie Creel and about seven other guys that had seen the notice. They all got together and decided to build an HO module and set it up at the Mall. Remarkably, they all fit together perfectly and the show at the Mall was a big success! After the success of the Mall show they decided to form a club and in 1981 the Mid-Ohio Valley Model Railroad Club was born. 

The club's first home was the basement of Dave's parents' house. It was OK but they knew they needed more space. They approached the Elks Club in 1985 and were given a room to use for their meetings and to build a layout. After two years, the Elks decided they needed the space back and the club was forced to disband. The MOVMRC was revived in the early 1990's and met in the city building in Vienna, WV. Once again the need for space forced the club to move. 

The director of the Parkersburg Boys and Girls Club, Mike Flanagan, heard about our problem and offered us some space there. After two years the need for space came up again and we were forced to leave. The club held meetings at Stone Elementary School in Belpre, OH until we were able to find a new home. 

In March of 2000, Ed Kipp and Tom Sodders approached Fred Linsell, the owner of NOE Office Equipment, about using one of the upper floors for a club. Fred said the upper floors were not available but we could use part of the basement if we wanted to. We had found a home! 

The basement had to be cleaned up and lights, walls, a stairway and a bathroom had to be installed. After a nearly a year of hard work and determination from a dedicated crew we were finally ready to start building layouts. What you see today is a culmination of the effort of our membership's drive and love of the hobby.